Some figures suggest that the average household receives seven hours of television programming per day. Whatever the actual figure, it is true that many households watch a whole lot of television. Yet the manner in most households select the television or videos they watch is very unsophisticated. Most people channel surf, and sometimes use electronic program guides that display a schedule grid of programs that are showing on various channels at various times of the day. These guides commonly display information about a number of programs in a grid of cells arranged by channel and time—much like their predecessor paper guides, such as those published in the old TV Guide magazines and in newspapers. The information, when displayed on a display device like a television, may be static, in that it is simply displayed to a user on a particular channel, such as in a continuously scrolling grid of channels. The information may also be interactive, in that users can scroll through the grid themselves and can select a certain cell to be switched to a program represented by the cell.
This process of scanning around for programming can result in a viewer watching television programs that are not suitable for them, when suitable programs could easily be recorded and watched later, or the viewer could take time out from other activities if the viewer could adequately plan for the viewing. Improved interaction with program guides and an ability to better find and interact with programming information can greatly increase the ability of users to find and manage programming that best suits their needs. As a result, such users can have a better viewing experience and can also watch more of what they enjoy and less of sub-par programming.